The Fire Within Us
by Rayne Cassandra Storme
Summary: Formerly titled The Reason I saved Dallas Winston.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I changed Katherine's name. She's Satirra now. 

Rayne Cassandra Storme 3

**Chapter One**

There was a very good reason why I hated Dallas Winston: that stupid "emotionless" exterior he insisted on putting up. Granted, it was only stupid to those very few people that could see through it. Most people were too scared of him to even think about seeing through him, which was reasonable seeing as how he'd made himself quite the reputation over the short time he'd been in Tulsa. He terrified people and used their fear of him to keep them away. And that was what pissed me off about him. He wanted people to believe he was this emotionless jerk when really he probably felt more than the rest of us. He'd never admit it, of course, but I knew he did and he tried to hide it. Still, as much as I despised Dallas I also understood him just as much. I didn't like the fact that he hid his emotions but I also knew that sometimes the only way to keep your sanity in tact was to hide them.

"TIRRA WAKE UP!"

Instead of jumping, screaming, or getting scared in the least bit I turned and gave my best friend an eye roll and smacked him across the back of his head. Sure, having your best friend yell in your ear while you're busy with your thoughts _should _get some sort of reaction. But, if you're Satirra Rose Curtis and your best friend is Keith "Two-Bit" Matthews, you get used to it. Two-Bit has been trying to scare me for ages now even though he knows it'll never work. (Well, he _has _managed to scare me once but I was asleep then so it doesn't count.)

Two-Bit and I have been best friends ever since I can remember. We both have the same, scatter-brained, sarcasm-filled sense of humor and laid back way. Soda once told us that we were closer to being twins than Pony and I were but that's just 'cause Pony and I are complete opposites. (Even though Pony and I _are _biological twins and I love him I don't get him like I get Two-Bit.) Over the years Two-Bit has kinda turned into another part of me. We've decided he's my right arm because I'm right handed and I'd lose my mind if he weren't there to keep me company.

"Nice try bud. Better luck next time." I said, laying back on my bed again.

Two-Bit hopped up and lay next to me, his head against my shoulder. Yeah, I know what you're gonna ask and no I'm not secretly dating Two-Bit. The idea disgusts me. It's just that Two-Bit and I have always been kinda touchy-feely with each other. It's natural for him to just lay next to me on my bed (or the floor or the couch or wherever else I'm laying) and lay his head on my shoulder. He's the only guy (besides Pony and Soda) that Darry allows in my room and that's only 'cause he knows how Two-Bit and I are.

"I'll get you. Just you wait."

"You've been saying that since I was five and you have yet to scare me."

"I'm ignoring you now. What were you thinking about when I walked in? You had your serious face on."

I sighed, looking over at him. Briefly, I thought about just not telling him but knew there was no point. Lying to Two-Bit was like lying to myself and I was no good at that. He'd just become a huge pest (well bigger than he usually was) until I gave in and told him so I decided to save myself (and everyone else) the trouble and tell him.

"Dallas."

He rolled his eyes at me. "I'm starting to think you've fallen madly in love with him, you know. That's the fourth time this week you've been caught thinking about him."

Smacking his shoulder, I said, "Well it's also the fourth time this week that he's decided to annoy me. And you're disgusting. Fall in love with Dallas? I don't fall in love. With anyone. Much less Dallas Winston."

"You say that now but in two weeks I'm gonna come up here and find you cryin' 'cause you've fallen in love with Dal."

"Two-Bit if you don't shut up I'm going to throw you off of my bed and beat you until you're purple."

"You wouldn't dare."

I cocked an eyebrow at him before pushing him off of my bed. He landed on the floor and stared at me for a split second before standing up. Before I could say anything – much less do anything – he had pinned me to the bed and was tickling me. I don't know how long he tickled me for – I never did – but by the time he was done I had tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks.

"You lost the Tickle War…again." He said as we walked out of the room together.

"I'll win tonight."

"I doubt it. You said that yesterday too and you failed."

"Only because you and Pony teamed up together. Which, for your information, was not fair."

Two-Bit laughed, pulling a beer from the fridge. "No but it sure was funny."

I rolled my eyes at him as the front door slammed. A few seconds later Darry, Soda, and – I rolled my eyes at Two-Bit – Dallas walked in the kitchen together. That was twice today I'd seen Dallas, and twice was far too many for my tastes. I started to leave the kitchen but Dallas was blocking the doorway – wearing that "I dare you to pass me" look that made me want to slap him – and I didn't have the patience to deal with him so I just stayed on the counter. Darry gave me a look – the same look he gave all of us when we were caught sitting on the counter – but Soda caught sight of it and heaved himself up next to me. Darry rolled his eyes at us but cracked a smile nonetheless. I guess he'd had a good day that or something because Darry hardly ever let us stay sitting on the counter.

"What happened at work today Darry? You're in a good mood." I asked, stealing a swig of Two-Bit's beer while Darry's back was turned.

"I got a raise." He said, grinning at me again.  
"Sweet! Why?"

He grinned. "Boss fired a couple of the guys that usually work for us and I've taken on their jobs lately. He pulled me aside this morning and told me he was raising my pay."

"You work too much already. Why're you taking on more jobs?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Stop raising your eyebrow like that…its like I'm looking at a female Two-Bit." Was his only reply.

"Well, he is my right arm ya know."

"That don't mean you have to act exactly like him."

"I always have Darry."

He glowered at me before shooing back towards the living room.

"Go get Pony and tell him to get in here. He made a mess on the counter and didn't clean it up…again."

"Darry…Pony never cleans his mess when he gets out of school."

"Just go get him."

"Fine."

I glared at Dallas as I pushed past him and towards my brother's room where he would probably reading a book. Unfortunately I was definitely not prepared for what I saw when I walked into the room…

Author's Note: Well, there's the first chapter. I already know what Pony's doing in there and everything but I wanted to end it here. I hope you liked it and be sure to review! Thanks!  
Rayne Cassandra Storme 3


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Ponyboy was sitting in the middle of his bedroom floor, his knees drawn up to his chest, tears rolling down his cheeks. As I walked into the room, shutting the door behind me, he looked up at me and took a deep, shuddering breath. Sitting down beside him – which was no easy task due to the fact that the room was a disaster area – I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and drew him into my side. He leaned his head against my shoulder with another shuddering breath. For a few moments we sat together like this before the urge to know what was wrong with my twin overpowered the urge to let him tell me on his own.

"What's wrong Pony?"

"Someone found out that I'm…gay." He said, the last word coming out in a ragged whisper.

"How? And who?"

"I dropped my notebook at school today…you know the one I usually don't take to school…and Jake Ritchmond picked it up. He read it and then he…he told me he's going to keep it to give to…to _him_."

I fought the sudden urge to find and kill Jake Ritchmond, Pony's ex. He'd been keeping a notebook where he wrote down whatever he was thinking about – usually whoever – since he and Jake broke up. He usually didn't take it to school but once in a while he did. Recently, though, he'd realized his feelings for a certain blonde greaser – that would be Dallas Winston – were a little different than he'd previously thought. Rather than tell him he'd started writing about it. The idea that Jake knew about those feelings wasn't good because if anyone would tell Dallas it'd be Jake. I squeezed Pony a little tighter for a second before speaking.

"I'll take care of the little jerk Pone. Don't worry…he won't tell anyone anything."

Pony sighed. "It's too late for that…he's already talked to Dallas. I passed them as I was walkin' home. He was showing Dallas the notebook, reading it with him."

"I'm going to kill Jake Ritchmond, you know this right?" I asked, looking at my twin closely.

"Don't. I'll be fine. It's just…I won't be able to face Dallas for a long time."

"Don't worry about facing Dallas Pone…I'll tell Darry you're sick and you're gonna be sleepin' it off. I'm still going to kill Ritchmond, though. Maybe Two-Bit will help me."

"Satirra…please don't do anything stupid. The State is already lookin' for reasons to throw you in a Girls Home…don't give 'em a reason."

"I won't. But I _am _gonna tell Two-Bit. Since you won't let me hurt him myself I'll tell Two-Bit."

"Fine." He said, knowing there was no use arguing with me.

"I'm gonna go take care of Darry. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah…I'll be okay."

Standing up I walked out of the room again. Darry was standing in the kitchen, working on dinner as I walked in and began cleaning up Pony's mess. As usual, Darry didn't even glance at me as I did it. He was used to me and Pony doing stuff like this for each other. We did it all the time.

"Pony ain't feelin' too good tonight. I told him to stay in bed and sleep off, all right?"

As usual, Darry didn't answer and I didn't push it. I hadn't really been asking if it was all right in the first place. After watching Darry walk around the kitchen in silence for a few more minutes I left the kitchen to go back to my room.

"Hey Satirra."

I jumped at the sound of the familiar – and hated – ice cold voice of Dallas Winston. He was standing in my room, leaning against the wall. Glaring at him, I walked into the room and sat down on my bed.

"What do you want?" I asked

"I know Pony told you what he saw that Ritchmond kid showing me."

"If you think I'm going to discuss my brother's personal life with _you _you're insane. I'm not going to give you anything else to hurt him with."

He turned away from me and ran a hand through his hair. When he turned back towards me he looked uncomfortable, like he was about to say something he didn't like. And when he did speak I knew why he was looking at me like that.

"What if I don't want to hurt him? What if I just want to know if…if it's true?"

He glared at me after speaking, as though daring me to make him say what he so obviously trying to avoid. I stared at him, vaguely comprehending what he was trying to say, but still not fully grasping it. When finally I did grasp what he was trying to say I widened my eyes and stood up to shut the door. This conversation would be the weirdest I'd ever had; that much I was sure of…

Author's Note: So there it is. The second chapter. Satirra and Dallas ARE NOT going to be a couple because he will be with Pony…eventually. I'm trying to keep him in character (which is why he's avoiding saying how he feels about Pony) and I hope I've done it okay. Things between Two-Bit and Satirra will start heating up in the next chapter. I hope you liked reading as much as I liked writing,

Rayne Cassandra Storme 3 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The first thing I figured out – ten seconds after shutting the door actually – was that Dallas Winston liked to pace. Instead of leaning against the wall, or even sitting on the floor, he paced in front of me while he spoke. If it were anything else we were talking about I would've laughed at him but this was _my _brother we were talking about and I couldn't bring myself to laugh…even if the sight of Dallas Winston pacing was the funniest thing I'd ever seen in my life. After ten minutes of non-stop talking Dallas stopped and looked at me.

"Well? What do I do?" he demanded, glaring at me.

I raised an eyebrow and lay back on my bed. "Well, first of all you've got to convince him to stay in the same room with you." I answered, smirking.

"He already does that Satirra!"

"No. At the moment he's pretending to be sick to avoid being in the room with you. If you want to get anywhere with my brother…you've got to make sure he knows you're not going to ridicule him for what you read."

He stopped pacing long enough to frown at me. Not being able to contain it anymore I busted out laughing.

"What are you talking about? Ridicule him? I know I can be…an ass sometimes but even I wouldn't ridicule him for that!" he answered.

"You really don't get it do you? You scare him."

"He wrote in that book that he…that he…has _feelings _for me."

"That's another thing you've got to get over: this thing you've got with saying the word love. You'll never get him if you don't say the word already."

"It's a girls word!"

"It is not a girls' word you moron. It's a feeling."

He frowned. "You're not helping."

"You're avoiding saying a word. I can't help if you avoid everything I advise."

"What if I just go talk to him?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's just going to ignore you. Or call for Soda. Then you'll find yourself kicked out of his room."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Wait until he comes out on his own and make it obvious that you don't care about what was in that book."

"But I _DO _care about what was in that book!"

"Fine make it obvious that you don't hate him for it. Act like nothing's changed between to you guys. You have go about this slowly."

"Fine. If this doesn't work you're going to wish you'd never been born."

"Whatever."

As he opened the door to leave Two-Bit stepped inside. As soon as Dallas was out of sight Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow at me and came over to lay in his usual spot at my side. We were silent for a few moments before he asked what I knew he eventually would.

"What were you two doing?"

"I was giving relationship advice to Dallas Winston." I answered, looking over at him.

He burst out laughing. "Are you serious? Why'd he come to you of all people?"

"Because it's my brother he wanted advice on."

"That's a bit weird. Dallas Winston…has a thing for a Curtis brother…which one?"

"Ponyboy."

"You think they'll ever…um…get together?"

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the side. "If they do that's their business. I don't want to know about that stuff. Especially not when it's Dallas Winston we're talking about."

My best friend laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. For a while we were both silent, thinking about Dallas and Pony and the somewhat odd idea that they could get together someday.

"Tirra?"

"Yeah Two?"

"What do you think it would be like if we ever…you know…had a thing for each other?"

For a second I thought about laughing his question off but he was serious. The fact that he was asking that seriously threw me off…I'd never even truthfully considered it. I looked over at him and saw him staring at the ceiling. There was something on his face that scared me, made me think of him in a light that I didn't want to think of him in…

"I don't know. Never thought about it really. You're my best friend…I don't know what it'd be like to have a thing together." I answered softly.

I waited for him to answer but he didn't speak. Turning my head towards him again I saw that he was watching me now, an odd expression on his face. He seemed to be debating something and I wondered what he was thinking. Usually I knew just by the look on his face what he was thinking about but…I'd never seen this look before and I had no idea what it meant. Before I could process anything else I felt his lips touch mine. In that second a million things changed…

Authors Note: I think maybe the kiss seemed a bit rushed but I could be wrong. Dallas seems a bit out of character in the beginning but I've decided to make that my intention but also that he needed to stay as close as possible to his book-character. The next chapter will be told through Two-Bit's POV because I wanted to experience what he feels about Satirra. I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading. Remember to review. 3

Rayne Cassandra Storme 3 


	4. IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE READ!

_Note: My twin sister, Jezabelle Rose Riddle, will be continuing all three of my stories for me. I'm getting married and won't have enough time to finish them. She should have the updates up in the next few days. _

_**Rayne Cassandra Storme**_


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